Two Worlds

Vid
Title:	Two Worlds
Creator:	Kitakatzz
Date:	August 22, 2005
Format:	wmv
Length:	16.7MB
Music:	"Two Worlds" by Phil Collins
Genre:
Fandom:	Stargate Atlantis
Footage:	Spoilers for seasons 1 & 2
URL:	offline, Vid Announcement Vid Banner by Krabbypatty
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

"Two Worlds" is a Stargate Atlantis vid by Kitzkatzz. It was posted to the LiveJournal community, atlantis_vids on August 22, 2005.

Vidder's summary: "Um. An introduction to Atlantis? But not just."

Reactions/Reviews

This vid was reviewed by Saeva at the reel vidding community on January 31, 2006:

Overall impression: There are pieces of this vid that I absolutely adore -- the opening sequence, the use of the instrumental portions/melodies of the song, the use of effects -- but in contrast there's parts of the vid that absolutely did not work for me, mostly in clip choices synching up with the lyrics.

Titles: The titles are more or less complete and include the vidders e-mail address, which is always a plus. Nothing special but nicely legible.

Music: I'm not much of a lyrical literalist but when a vid is attempting a literal match-up in order to create a message I think it has to be careful not to assume the message from the outset and, instead, build up to what it's trying to say. Between that assumption and the use of filler clips I had trouble with some of the message, personally, though I'll disclaim now that it's entirely my personal view.

On a musical level, in terms of the melodies, beats, and instrumental sections of this song, I adore not only the song but how it was used. This is some fantastic use of music here and the song, despite coming from a Disney movie (not to knock Disney but they're hard to adapt, as the numerous Zero-to-Hero vids attest), is really made to work.

Narration, tone, and movement:

Narration - Here's where I make another disclaimer: There's a reason I didn't see Tarzan and the message of the song this vid uses (and, ultimately, the vid) is part of that reason. I love Disney; I hate its occasionally ethnocentric, condescending platitudes.

That said, the narration of the vid was consistent for the most part, except for some occasional issues with filler clips. While I didn't like the message of the vid, or the threading narration, I think that for the most part I understood it, which is what's important. Not everyone's going to like a message, after all.

I do think that it could be tighten up narratively, but that'll be in my final notes.

Tone - This is hit and miss. Sometimes the clips really fit the tone of the song and the rest of the vid and sometimes the clips seem so much like filler or as if the vidder wasn't certain what to put there. Some of it is very jarring, which I'll take more about in specific notes.

Movement - The movement of the clips to the sound of the music is great, very fitting and well-adjusted to where the song speeds/slows, for the most part.

Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: I'm going to talk about this a lot, lot more in the specific notes section, but for a quick overview -

Cuts - The cutting is smooth and effective here, with very little of it being visually jarring (the use of transitions and effects helps that). Additionally, the cuts, overall, are very well-timed and flow well with the music.

Transitions - This is a vid that relies heavily on its transitions, perhaps a little too much, using the white-out split to smooth between many of the clips. Despite that, it doesn't feel like too much/is varied enough to work, and I like the transitions.

Effects - The effects are very, very synched with the music, all appropriately used and, I suspect, they must have taken quite some time. I'd say they're worth it. When using what could be an over-the-top song musically it helps to match up the way one uses the video available in the same way and that's what the vidder does here. The effects, and colouring, give the vid a 'louder' feel than the clips alone could have done, which was necessary here to make the vid as a whole piece work.

Colouring - Again, it's nicely appropriate, with rises in the music leading to rising adjustment in the colours and bowings out in the music leading to a subtling of the colouring effect.

Specific notes:

• 0:09; I love the opening shot, in synch with the rumbling of the music. It's a very nice choice.
• 0:09-0:24; These fifteen seconds introduce us to all of the main characters as the song begins the first of its rises in percussion.
• 0:19; I do think that at (0:19) you could have selected a better opening shot from Rising to introduce Aiden Ford. Perhaps where he's guarding pre-Carson releasing the drone? The clip you have chosen seems almost to introduce Daniel, which is confusing narratively.
• 0:25; This is where the first of the real video altering (more than a basic B&W-colour/vice versa change) begins, using colours to accent the introduction of the military component of the Atlantis mission.
• 0:30; The exchange here where Sumner and Sheppard are circling each other just makes me grin. The 'old film' effect you use both does and doesn't work for me. I like it, in theory, but in use I had a first time deciding at first if it was done on purpose or if it was the result of bad clip quality. Don't be afraid to save at a slightly higher clip quality and make both versions available.
• 0:47-0:54; Right here is what I mean by using the music effectively. This is a great editing sequence that really utilizes the beats of the song.
• 0:55-0:56; Here, however, could have tighter editing. We should be out of the wormhole before the lyrics begin because it changes the sound of the song and thus the visuals need to go with it. As is the introduction of the lyrical portion of the song is jarring without any complementary visual jar to go with it.
• 1:15-1:16; And here is the first of the truly strange clip choices. While I wasn't sure what you were trying to get across by introducing the SGA Stargate on 'let fate decide' earlier in this verse, I'm absolutely sure this clip does not go with the music.

Having a scene of Teyla, to put it nicely, beating the hell out of the prisoners in Condemned wedged between the lyrics 'A paradise untouched by man' and 'within this world laced with love' is, frankly, baffling and while I love that shot of Teyla on a personal level it really threw me from the vid. I couldn't understand why that clip was there at all aside from, possibly, filler.

• 1:24; I'm iffy about the choice here as well, though I'm not certain if that's a strong reaction to the song or not. I know that, when I was watching the vid over and over to do this review, synching an introductory shot of the Athosians with 'they live in peace', especially knowing that in context these people will be killed and forced out of their home in about three minutes screen-time, well...

It didn't strike me as a purposefully ironic clip choice but it did strike me as ironic.

• 1:46, 1:47; Again, I love the editing here with the music, where Sheppard slides, ungracefully, down to the beats of the song. It was a really good choice.
• 2:02-2:04; Here isn't what I'd call an inappropriate clip choice so much as one that could be better used, especially from scenes from that same episode. 'Take strength from those who need you,' if you wanted to highlight McKay and Weir specifically, could easily be filled with a later scene from 'The Storm/The Eye' for a much more visually and emotionally interesting effect.
• 2:15; Nice use of effect.
• 2:16-2:26; Once again, there's strong sound-to-visual editing here, introducing the Genii, the Wraith, and the virus from Hot Zone in smooth connection to each other. I really liked this sequence and it's an example, more than anything, that shows how well non-lyrical sequences can be used.
• 2:27-2:37; And this sequence made me giggle because you can feel the sense of 'we are hunting' in the song and it matches beautifully with clip choice.
• 2:39-2:47; I really liked how you slowed the clip set-up down here and faded it to B&W. It went very well with that section of the song. I don't think, however, you need that flash of colour at the very end of the shot on Elizabeth.
• 2:53; Opening from black with a shot of the city rising at the lyrics 'somewhere something is calling for you' is just a great combination.
• 3:03-3:04; Again, this is a truly odd clip choice to me. Using Chaya's obliteration of the Wraith darts in Sanctuary, which is one of the least 'fate' or luck driven incidents in the entire show, to synch up with 'let fate decide' struck me as very odd. In fact, I noticed that throughout the entire vid it was as if you didn't know what to do with the song when it came to 'let fate decide' and I think it'd probably be served if you went back and examined your clip choices in each place here.
• 3:15-3:16; I just have to ask -- Why did you end a vid with a song about cooperation and peace with a shot of a nuclear explosion? There has to be some logic there I'm not seeing and I'm really curious as to what it is.

Final notes: overall, I think this vid suffers somewhat from three things: the occasional truly jarring clip choice, the sometimes low quality video it was saved as, and the looseness of the narrative. It's saved, more or less, by the fact the vidder knows how to vid to sound. On a technical level, this is a strong piece.

That said, I think that the third could be as easily fixed as the first two by choosing which 'two' the vidder wishes to refer to and relegating the larger introductions to either another vid or the instrumental sections. This vid flits between many versions of two -- scientists/military; Tau'ri/Atlanteans; Tau'ri/Athosians; Tau'ri-Athosians/Wraith -- and thus never really gives the viewer a strong sense of the important portion of the song (resolution). This is further effected by the clip choice at (3:15).

By picking one set of two (for example, the Tau'ri-Athosians/Wraith) the vid would be tighter and easier to follow. At the very least, not changing between the two in sequence and then going back to one of the rivalries from the beginning (i.e. T/A, then T-A/W, then T/A again) would help.

Otherwise, kitakatzz, if you have any questions about what I said here feel free to approach me. I fear I didn't explain myself nearly as well as I wanted to.